No one knows for sure, but it is estimated thatthere are something like 1024 stars in theuniverse. When talking about numbers sounimaginably large, our world seems cosmicallyinsignificant. But as far as we know, we're theonly ones who count¬in two senses of the word: Wealone can count the stars, and it seems to countfor something that we do. As Aristotle begins hisMetaphysics, "All men by nature desire to know."There is something within us¬manifested as it isin the entire spectrum of human endeavor, fromthe sciences, to philosophy, to religion, to thearts, to ethics¬that demands we pursue the wholestory of the whole cosmos if we are to be wholepersons, in order to know who we are, where weare from, where we are going, and how we should live.

According to a recent piece in ScientificAmerican, it seems that in about 100 billionyears, scientists (if there are any) will nolonger be able to detect the Big Bang. As thearticle poetically put it, "the runaway expansionof the cosmos by then will have blown away allevidence of the big bang like dandelion fluffinto the wind." The universe will look to ourcounterparts in the future as if it were static.There will be no ability to detect expansion, andno way to find the cosmic microwave backgroundradiation. Astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss notesthat we only discovered dark energy because welive in a 'special' time during which itsmysterious influence is neither too weak nor toostrong to observe. "This is about the only timein the history of the universe when you coulddetect it, and that's really weird," Krausssays¬a weirdness that results in our time reallybeing an "extraordinary moment." When the bigbang finally and permanently recedes, "with itwill go cosmology, the study of the origin andevolution of the universe." And withoutunderstanding our origins, the "whole story" will be gone forever.

So maybe we need to gather our "cosmic"rosebuds¬as well as our biological, ecological,philosophical, theological, mathematical, andwhatever other rosebuds¬while we may. As CarlSagan wrote, "the Cosmos is all that is or everwas or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplationsof the Cosmos stir us¬ there is a tingling in thespine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation,as if a distant memory, of falling from a height.We know we are approaching the greatest ofmysteries." If we are truly to understand thecosmos and our place in it, as well as ourrelation to each other and to the divine, we mustadopt rich transdisciplinary approaches thatdeeply respect yet cut across the various fieldsof knowledge, institutional boundaries, culturalborders, and religious traditions that frame ourintellectual and spiritual pursuits.

If we wish to pursue something like the wholestory of the whole cosmos for the whole person,we need to explore such questions as:

What is the state of our knowledge about ourorigins? What has the latest cutting edgeresearch in cosmology, quantum physics,evolutionary biology, and neuroscience to teachus about where we are in our story and where weare going? And what do we know about the end ofourselves and of everything? What do we knowabout the birth of the stars and the moment of our death?

Recent years have witnessed a resurgence ofinterest in metaphysics, in particular themetaphysics of science. Can metaphysics give us a"whole story"? Can it at least contribute to the"story" of who we are and what we know? What roledoes metaphysics play in helping us get our storyright? Is it essential? Could it be instead, asits critics maintain, an obstacle to knowing?What is the nature of "ultimate reality"? Arethere fundamentally different levels of reality?Does science give us the final truth of reality?What is "scientific realism"? What is themetaphysical status of "universals," "substance,""causes," "ontological categories," "numbers,""properties," "time," and the other terms in which science speaks to us?

To paraphrase novelist Walker Percy, "Why it isthat of all the billions and billions of strangeobjects in the Cosmos¬novas, quasars, pulsars,black holes¬we are beyond doubt the strangest?"There is something inescapably "first person"about consciousness. What accounts for this? Canthird-person, objective science give a completeanalysis of first-person, subjective experience?And can it tell us how to live our lives, how toseek virtue, or how to live together? The humanbrain manifests a massive complexity, comprisingabout 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion (1014)synapses. But are we our brains? What can thelatest developments in neuroscience, which hastaken on fields from psychology to religion toeconomics in recent years, tell us about ourdeepest questions and our future prospects?

D. H. Lawrence wrote, in his Apocalypse, "We andthe cosmos are one. The cosmos is a vast livingbody, of which we are still parts. The sun is agreat heart whose tremors run through oursmallest veins. The moon is a great gleamingnerve-centre from which we quiver forever. Whoknows the power Saturn has over us, or Venus? Butit is a vital power, rippling exquisitely throughus all the time." To what degree are werelational beings? Is there an essential relationbetween "I" and "Other"? And do animals count as"other." Does "nature" as a whole count as"other"? Are human beings "natural," or are we,as some suggest, a "threat" to nature? And whatabout God? Is God the "whole" which we seek , ordoes God somehow belong to the "whole"? Is God,instead, beyond the whole, making the whole possible?

How might we go about a search for meaning, forwhat is "real and important" to ourselves? Isthis a spiritual quest? A philosophical practice?An empirical exercise? A potential scientificdiscovery? How do we best approach this search,or are these questions somehow flawed? Is theresuch a thing as "natural law," and can it help usto know who we are and how to live? Is there arelation between, in Kant's words, "the starryheavens above me and the moral law within me"?

Join us for the 10th international MetanexusConference when philosophers, biologists,physicists, cosmologists, neuroscientists,cognitive scientists, theologians, scholars inreligious studies, and other researchers andeducators will discuss these and other profoundquestions of cosmos, nature, and culture in arapidly evolving and complex world.

Among the attendees will be representatives ofthe Metanexus Global Network of multidisciplinaryLocal Societies from more than 40 countries.

Additional Themes

Papers are invited that address the broad themeslisted above, but the conference is open tocritically rigorous, scientifically-,theologically-, and philosophically-informedpapers on any topics that touch on profoundquestions of a transdisciplinary nature concerning the person and the cosmos.

All accepted papers and presentations are to besubmitted in advance in final form and will beposted and publicly accessible on the MetanexusConference Web site. Abstracts will also beprinted in the conference reader. All authors ofaccepted papers and presentations will berequired to sign a release allowing Metanexus torecord their contributions (audio, video,powerpoint, etc.) to the conference for later use by Metanexus.

The goal in this conference is not simply topresent papers, but to meet and network withcreative persons from around the world. The hopeis to learn from each other, to try out new ideason a welcoming yet critically astute audience, toprovide inspiration towards further research andexploration, and to generate a synergy that willhave effects long after the conference is over.As this is a transdisciplinary conference,attendees will represent various academic fieldsand specialties. Papers should be crafted withthis multidisciplinary scholarly audience in mind.

To be considered for a paper presentation at theconference, please submit ALL of the following inENGLISH in THREE SEPARATE FILES:* FILE # 1: A COVER SHEET that lists theauthor(s) full name(s), name of institution(s),complete postal address, telephone number(s), andemail address, along with the PAPER TITLE.* FILE # 2: A 200 word BIOGRAPHY for eachauthor of the paper, written in third-person form("She is professor…" rather than "I amprofessor…"). Please include your current job title or academic position.* FILE # 3: An ABSTRACT of between 1000 and1200 words. Please adhere to the following guidelines:* All abstract PAGES MUST BE NUMBERED.* The abstract MUST NOT CONTAIN ANYSELF-REFERENCES, in order to facilitate blind review.* All submission elements MUST BE SENTVIA EMAIL AS ATTACHMENTS. All files must be in.DOC or .RTF format only. No other fileextensions (.pdf, .odf, .tex, .pages, etc.) will be accepted.

NOTE: We cannot accept any cover sheets, bios, orabstracts in the body of email messages.

IMPORTANT DATES:

DEADLINE for submitting abstract and biography is January 15, 2009.

Authors submitting abstracts will be notified ofacceptance decision by March 15, 2009.